Chickagmauga National Battlefield

Brotherton House - Confederates charged through a hole in the Union Line

On our way home, we visited two Civil War Battlefields. The Park Service has really made improvements in how to visit these Battlefields over the last few years. Both had excellent movies that provided the background on why these battles were fought and how they effected the war. Besides talking about the generals who commanded the fields of battle (Grant and Sherman in both battles), they also had several stories about individual soldiers based on the letters they had written to their loved ones. Besides the movie, the major stops on the battlefield auto tour had an audio tour that you accessed via cell phone, which filled in a lot more details than the plaques at the stops. Chickamauga was fought in September of 1863. The Union army controlled a key railroad town – Chattanooga and the Confederate Army was trying to regain control. Over the course of 3 days, over 40,000 casualties occurred between the two armies, second only to Gettysburg. The Confederates ‘won’ the battle, but the Union army retreated back to Chattanooga, where they were under siege for over a month, but relief troops under General Grant broke the siege and opened up the South to Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign in 1864. Our campground that night was Green Valley RV outside Savannah, TN (near the Shiloh Battlefield). This was a great campground, large sites, pool, great Wifi. I doubt we’ll ever be back in the region, but I’d recommend this campground.

Wilder Light Brigade Memorial